Clearwater FL, December 31, 2008 - Angie’s Restaurant, located on the corner of Myrtle and Cleveland St. has been serving Clearwater delicious home cooked meals for over 35 years.

Angie Chaconas, who took over the diner in the 70’s, gave the restaurant to her son Louis roughly 11 years ago. “Yes, I own it,” states Louis. “But Mom’s still in charge.” Retirement planning does not exist for Angie Chaconas who proudly expressed that she finds joy in hard work. With so much to do in running a restaurant, and making sure each customer is served a hot homeâcooked meal, leaving with a full belly and a smile of their face; happiness at Angie’s is not in short supply.

Prior to the Myrtle Ave. and Cleveland Streetscape construction project (3 years ago), Angie’s Restaurant was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. However, with the rerouting of traffic away from Cleveland Street and road closures, less customers came and Angie’s Restaurant reduced their hours; closing at 3:00pm. Now that the construction is over and Downtown Clearwater is seeing increased traffic, popular demand from customers warranted the decision to increase the restaurant hours to stay open until 8:00pm. “There used to be a time…” Angie

Clearwater FL, January 2, 2009 - A new organization called Create Clearwater was formed to help build stronger community resources and higher quality of life in the area. In the span of a few short weeks, the group produced a number of educational programs, implemented a project to start a community garden in Clearwater, they are putting together a “Shop Local and Shop Green” guide for Clearwater (www. ClearwaterGreenGuide. com) and greater Tampa Bay, and started planting a demonstration “food forest.” This food forest comprises a mixture of fruit trees, bushes, vines, vegetables and herbs that can provide both a concentrated food supply and natural beauty for the yard, while only requiring in a small space to do so.

Create Clearwater is focused on creating local, organic food supplies, revitalizing neighborhoods, environmental issues, and building a strong local economy – as well as other quality of life issues.

“We don’t see a contradiction between a strong local economy and protecting the environment,” says Cory Brennan, a natural systems designer and founder of Create Clearwater. “In fact, when you design correctly, protecting the environment should create more abundance for everybody, not less. That is the beauty of this program:

When most people think of hormones they think of the things that drive you crazy in your teens and for many their entire lives. But that’s really giving these guys a bad rap and doesn’t really tell you what they are all about. These little guys are the messengers. Different hormones carry different messages all over the body.

The endocrine system consists of different glands. Glands produce and release things, both inside and outside the body. Each gland in the endocrine system has a different job. The “master” is the pituitary gland. It is the size of a pea and has several key jobs. It helps to control nervous function, controls the rest of the endocrine system and controls a few things directly having to do with childbirth and milk production. It’s definitely the boss.

We’ve all read the recent Chicken Little headlines about the economy and where it’s going. It’s pretty easy to have one’s own optimism and confidence shattered by such gloom and doom. These pronouncements are the equivalent of being hit over the head with a cudgel: the reality of how bad things are seems quite convincing. It’s natural in face of such “news” to duck and go from offense to defense.

From my personal experience, I’ve been noticing that my listings are being shown more, and that prices seem to be stabilizing. Buyers are poking
out their heads again, that they are finding that the water is fine!

Even the National Association of Realtors is reporting that existing home sales in Florida increased in October, actually by 15% over last September. Condo sales are also up, but not so drastic, with a 5% increase over last year.

Last October’s median home price was $222,200 and this October’s median home price was $169,700. That is a 24 percent decrease in one year.

Prices had flown out of reach very quickly, and this adjustment, although painful to homeowners that now owe more on their home that it is worth, is really good news to people looking to buy.

As we begin the New Year, I would like to thank the citizens of Pinellas County for their overwhelming support. I look forward to my second term as your Sheriff, and my staff and I have implemented many initiatives despite having faced some serious and unprecedented budget challenges along the way.

All of our programs and services have been scrutinized to determine their cost effectiveness and productivity. This analysis became especially important during the past year when it became clear that there would be a significant reduction in our budget even though our operating costs had increased. Through some reorganization, including the elimination of some positions and modification of services, we endured and we are now planning for the future.

It is anticipated that we will once again face budget cuts in the coming fiscal year; however, I am confident that our ongoing efforts to ensure efficiency will allow us meet the challenge ahead. Some of the initiatives aimed at saving money, while still providing superior service to our citizens, include improvements in some patrol operations, crime prevention programs, and the use of volunteers.

Do You Believe in Magic?
Interview with an Illusionist… By Megan Brazil

Clearwater FL December 31, 2008 - When I heard that David Copperfield was coming to town I got incredibly excited. My excitement was twofold, David is not only a magnificent illusionist (who I never miss a chance to see his show) but I have known him for years through my late brother Chappy Brazil who was also a magician and a friend of David Copperfield’s. So, when TBI asked me to do the interview with him, I jumped at the opportunity to give TBI readers insight into the mystical world of a magician.

The Interview

Megan: How has magic changed since you began as a magician, for you, and for the audience?

David Copperfield: “After so many years, it all comes down to loving what I do and keeping up with the times. Performing my show is something I constantly think about. When I am on the road and heading to my next venue, I think about my audience: ‘Is it a college town or a family town? Should I make the music LOUDER for College kids?’ New tricks are added, old ones are dropped... so it stays fresh. But it’s the randomly selected participants from the audience that make it fresh each and every show; which has also provided some of the best comic relief of the day!

Clearwater FL, December 31, 2008 - Downtown Clearwater is undeniably expanding. With the recent sprouting of towering condos and tasty restaurants, the city’s growth can no longer be hidden. The downtown area is now expanding in a new direction. A performing arts center.

From the penthouse of the Waters Edge building, Mayor Frank Hibbard and Robert Freedman on behalf of Ruth Eckerd Hall delightedly announced Ruth Eckerd Hall’s purchase of The Royalty Theatre, with the intention of injecting Downtown Clearwater with a shot of culture. The creation of a performing arts center is expected to stimulate the economy of Downtown Clearwater by increasing and strengthening the arts presence which in turn will draw people and businesses to the downtown area, hopefully creating the right environment in which private businesses can prosper.

The Royalty Theatre will be returning to its roots, as well as its original name, The Capitol Theatre. “I’m starting that trend right now,” joked Mayor Hibbard. The name of the theatre changed to The Royalty Theatre in the 1990’s when it was purchased by The Royalty Theatre, a local community theatre company.

Clearwater Florida, December 20, 2008 - Once again, a team of over 200 volunteers ranging from local business executives to children of the community worked together to orchestrate what has become one of the premier races in the Tampa Bay area. Top runners in prior years have included six-time World Ironman Triathlon Champion Mark Allen, Canadian Olympian Peter Maher, American Olympian Ronnie Holassie, Swiss Olympian Dan Otz as well as local Clearwater stars Mary Level-Menton and Judy Mercon-Maguire.

This year Heather Gollnick, 5-time Ironman champion and past national and world champion at national and world duathlon level, placed 4th overall.

The 20th Annual Say No to Drugs Holiday Classic drew 940 runners. “Last year we had 805, which was our previous highest ever year. What makes this [statistic] even more spectacular is that, this year, we were up by 140 runners with 3 other races taking place the same morning in Tampa, St. Pete and Tarpon Springs – with one of them sponsored by ESPN! Last year we were the only race on that day, so [this year] we’re especially pleased…” Race Director Chris Alexander proudly remarked.

Clearwater FL, December 10, 2008 - It was a chilly day for the gold coast of Florida; nevertheless, there was a lot of warmth at the Pangea Café in downtown Clearwater. It seems there is another holiday to be celebrated in addition to the traditional ones. December is Human Rights Month for the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the 60th Anniversary of this auspicious event was about to be honored by Poets and Youth for Human Rights.

On December 10th, 1948 led by the courageous Eleanor Roosevelt, the nations of the world united with the conviction to guarantee 30 rights to mankind. Clearwater was celebrating in its own way as it had for the past few years with poetry and a special reading of the Declaration. Adding to the honor of the occasion was a proclamation from Mayor Frank Hibbard declaring Human Rights Week and the inaugural presentation of the Clearwater Humanitarian Awards.